The Field Guide to Sponsored Films
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Gathering, sifting through, and evaluating information for this publication was a huge undertaking involving hundreds of individuals and institutions over the course of 18 months. Rick Prelinger tirelessly oversaw the project from start to finish, developing the research strategy, selecting and documenting films, collecting holdings data, and writing and indexing the entries.
Assisting Rick in refining the methodology were a team of archivists and scholars: Dan Streible (New York University), Donald Crafton (University of Notre Dame), Michael Mashon and Amy Gallick (Library of Congress), Wendy Shay (National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution), Margaret Compton (University of Georgia), Abby Smith, and the staff of the National Film Preservation Foundation. As the project took shape, this group advised on the scope and content. Several experts—Jennifer Horne (Bryn Mawr College), Steve Lubar (Brown University), Gregory Waller (Indiana University), and Charles McGovern (College of William and Mary)—critiqued the film selection in the winter and spring of 2006 and offered invaluable suggestions for improving coverage and documentation. Additional suggestions were contributed at the University of South Carolina’s Orphan Film Symposium, which in March 2006 featured a panel and film screening based on the project.
In summer 2006, Alex Thimons, a Cornell University undergraduate who had helped in the initial stages of the project the previous summer, returned to fact-check the manuscript, under the direction of the NFPF staff. We owe him a special thanks for his exacting and perceptive research.
Scores of scholars and preservationists generously contributed information relating to their collections and specialties: Ruta Abolins (University of Georgia), Charles Acland (Concordia University), Geoff Alexander (Academic Film Archive of North America), Bev Allen (Bessemer Historical Society), Craig Baldwin (Other Cinema), Snowden Becker (Center for Home Movies), Charles Benton (Benton Foundation), Larry Bird (National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution), Henry Charles, Michele Christian (Iowa State University), Liz Coffey (Rhode Island Historical Society), Sid Davis, Melissa Dollman (UCLA Film & Television Archive), Mary Durkee, Paul Eisloeffel (Nebraska State Historical Society), Skip Elsheimer (AV Geeks), Bob Finehout, David Marc Fischer, Bill Geerhart (Conelrad.com), Allan Goodrich (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum), Charles Grimm, Christine Hennig, Charles Hopkins (UCLA Film and Television Archive), Jan-Christopher Horak (University of California, Los Angeles), Ann L. Horton-Line (Yale University), Ken House (Weyerhaeuser Company), Paul Ivester, John Jack, Jeff Joseph (Sabucat Productions), Gary Kaboly (Pittsburgh Filmmakers), Kim Klausner (University of California, San Francisco), Christina Kovac (National Archives), Jeff Kreines, Andrew Lampert (Anthology Film Archives), Steve Leggett (Library of Congress), Erica Levin (University of California, Berkeley), Arel Lucas (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University), J. Fred MacDonald (MacDonald and Associates), Steven Mandeville-Gamble (North Carolina State University), Sarah Ziebell Mann (New York University), Caroline Martel (Artifact Productions), Karen E. Martin (Nature Society), Eef Masson (Utrecht University), Barbara Mathe (American Museum of Natural History), Anna McCarthy (New York University), Joe Morrison (Pittsburgh Filmmakers), Bill Murphy (AVArchives Services), Bill O’Farrell, Stephen O’Riordan (University of California, San Diego), Stephen Parr (San Francisco Media Archive), Martin Pernick (University of Michigan), Greg Pierce (Orgone Archives), Zak Piper (Kartemquin Films), Steve Polta (San Francisco Cinematheque), Megan Shaw Prelinger (Prelinger Archives), Bradley Reeves (Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound), Eddie Richmond (UCLA Film & Television Archive), Linda Ries (Pennsylvania State Archives), Amy Rudersdorf (North Carolina State University), John Sanford, Eli Savada (Motion Picture Information Service), Sean Savage (New York University), Valarie Schwan (University of Southern California), Jay Schwartz (Secret Cinema), Karan Sheldon (Northeast Historic Film), Lee Shoulders (Getty Images), Bob Shuster (Wheaton College), Scott Simmon (University of California, Davis), Todd Southern, Paul Spehr, Cecile Starr, Albert Steg, Rob Stone (UCLA Film & Television Archive), George Stoney (New York University), Henry Strauss, Bob Summers, Dwight Swanson (Appalshop), Tad Tadlock, Bill Taylor, Mark Taylor (National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution), Charles Tepperman (University of Chicago), Mark Toscano (Academy Film Archive, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), Louisa Trott (Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound), Frederick M. Veith (Swarthmore College), Nancy Watrous (Chicago Film Archives), David Weiss (Northeast Historic Film), Sam Wells, Liz Wiatr (Boise State University), Pam Wintle (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution), Bret Wood, Frank Wylie (Library of Congress), Tanya Zanish-Belcher (Iowa State University), Jennifer Zwarich, and many others.